An independent survey commissioned by F&B technology expert Caternet, has uncovered new fears faced by the industry in line with the changes to EU Food Labelling regulations and allergens which come into force on 13 December 2014. Almost half of F&B managers (47%), say they are ‘uncertain’ even though they have some plans in place, but they admit it’s a game of chance in terms of how they plan to manage the changes going forward.
- For 60% of F&B managers, fears stem from the level of detail required to keep on top of the changes on a daily basis.
- This is further magnified by 49% who say they worry about the pressure it will put on the internal resources of their already over-stretched teams.
- Almost one third (27%) are also concerned about the cost implication these changes will have on their business.
No plans in place
More alarmingly, 20% of businesses admit they haven’t put any plans in place yet to respond to the changes, reasons centre around having ‘good intentions’ but not getting around to it yet, some are waiting until the last minute to respond, and some managers say they haven’t even thought about it yet.
Physical management of the new legislation
Jerry Brand, Managing Director at Caternet commented: “It’s interesting that when it comes to adapting to change, most things come down to time and money, but our research shows that it is the physical management of this new legislation that is really worrying people right now; cost is a factor, but the big one is how do I keep on top of these changes for the long term? With the amount of information and detail involved, that can understandably seem like quite a daunting prospect.”
The survey revealed that only 5% of F&B managers have no concerns at all about the changing regulations proving it is an industry-wide concern for most.
The legislation is here to stay
Brand concludes: “It is concerning that as many as 20% of companies have yet to act on these changes, it’s vital that plans are put in place, both to action the changes and manage them efficiently in the future – this won’t go away, the legislation is here to stay and as an industry we need to prepare for that and act now.”
The Caternet F&B system
In line with the changes to legislation, the Caternet F&B system now includes a full recipe system that provides the nutritional analysis and allergen information on products and dishes you create, in line with the new regulations. The system also provides a full ‘allergen directory’ of all the products purchased, an ‘allergen service alert’ for the day’s menu production and the ability to tag allergen information on the menu (which means it can also provide the visuals for plasma screens and other media as well as printed labels) against dishes.
About Caternet
Caternet started life in 2004 as a food & beverage software house, and quickly developed a ‘core’ purchase order and live purchase management solution to help their users buy their F&B products.
In 2012, the system was extended to take on board non-F&B products as well as managing online purchases and tendering/buying of service contracts. Key to this development was the ability for system management to be able to create personal allowances for users, groups and departments to monitor and control their budgets. Being 100% online, this effectively created a cast iron control over decentralised purchasing which is a major assistance to buyers.
Caternet also follows a ‘fairness & ethics’ policy where they continuously improve the system with free upgrades, primarily through the comments, ideas and suggestions of their users.
The user profile has grown from foodservice, in-house operators and purchasing consortiums into education at all levels from secondary through to Universities, and in 2014 a buzzing retail division has now been launched.
Users of Caternet’s software can expect to sustainably reduce their current facilities spend by at least 5% year on year, measured in terms of money with price competition and time with finance administration/paperless efficiencies.
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